Under A New Sky
by Johnnieboy11
Summary: Marooned after crash-landing on a new, alien world, the Master Chief and Cortana must now scrounge up supplies, gather allies and arm themselves for a prolonged stay in one of this Galaxy's biggest mysteries, a RimWorld. Their final objective:Escape the strange planet by any means necessary.
1. Prologue:Stranded

_"... N... ohn...!"_

... A young man's eyes flickered open. In front of him, a teal Heads-Up Display activated, showing on the top a bar of Energy Shields, on the top right, what seemed to be weapons and on the bottom left, a Radar. The heavy armored suit on his personage didn't feel like armor at all. Instead, it felt like a second skin to the man wearing it. He heard the faint pitter-patter of rain as it fell onto his visor.

"John!" A female voice erupted in his ears... She was alive and well, it seemed. "Can you hear me?"

The man slowly straightened up, then spoke calmly "Loud and clear... Status?" as he stood up, drawing the bulky rifle he had on his back and racking the bolt. Its holographic ammo counter showed 60 rounds in the magazine. He flicked its flashlight on, then gazed around. Grass lay below his armored feet and around him, mountain peaks rose high, with trees and shrubs and debris. Chunks of metal, charred by the heat of re-entry.

"Thank God... We're at 100%, I think... I couldn't wake you up in time, John. The _Dawn _entered the orbit of this planet randomly. I'm sorry..." The woman spoke. John hummed, scanning the surrounding area and looking ahead, to a set of bright-burning fires a kilometer ahead and above. Half a Frigate lay, embedded into the slopes of a mountain, its hull half-dug into the ground, lower hangar missing. One of the engine nacelles had been severely damaged. Around him, faint blips appeared on his HUD's Motion Tracker. Small animals moving about and not-so-small animals following them.

The man... Spartan-117, or the Master Chief himself, stared at the _Forward Unto Dawn's _battered aft section as it hanged there. The fires were dying under the heavy rainfall that plagued the area they'd landed in. "Any idea what planet we're on?" He asked absentmindedly, finger beside the trigger, but not on it. His rifle was lowered to his chest, but the safety was off.

"Unknown and uncharted... Wherever the Ark Portal sent us..." Cortana noted. She hummed "Let's head for the _Dawn_. Maybe we'll find shelter along the way..."

The Chief nodded, then began to walk, rifle ready just in case. He walked through the shrubbery and around the trees toward the ship's final resting place, keeping an eye out for any kind of threat out of instinct. As the Spartan and his AI Companion strolled through the rain-struck valley, the faint sound of running water echoed to his right. A river must've been nearby, if not a small stream. The bushes around were also full of ripe berries, most of which the Armor's automated systems identified as edible, non-poisonous and possibly similar to Earth berries. As they continued to walk toward the ship, with the wet sound of John's boots hitting the mud and the rain as their only companions, the Spartan decided to ask "Is the _Dawn's _Beacon still active?"

"And transmitting." The woman said, focusing on whatever Data she could get. "From what I'm getting, she's lost her cargo hold and hangar. Not like there was much in it to begin with, after our sudden exit from the Ark..." The woman quipped. "The reactor's surprisingly not breached, so we could probably draw power from it if we wanted to... Though, for now, I'd suggest leaving it as is."

"We're only grabbing ammo and MREs." Chief said "The rest, we blow..."

"So it doesn't fall into anyone's hands. Right..." Cortana hummed "Tell me, did we see any locals, John?"

"... Aside from local wildlife, no." The Spartan returned, knowing full-well what Cortana was going for "Doesn't mean there aren't any, though..."

... The AI sighed "Fair point... I'd rather not bet our lives here..." And then she smirked "Counterpoint:What about the beacon, though?"

"... Right." John sighed. "That..." And he looked ahead, to see a cave opening into the side of the mountain they were going toward. He noticed, from a better look, that the _Dawn_ was thankfully hidden behind a set of rock embankments and a mountain in itself. And, gazing back, the Spartan saw that, aside from the sprawling debris field, the Valley he'd landed on only had a few hills. The only one that gave a clear picture of the ship herself was the one he'd landed on. And it had no way through, as it too was only rocks without caves.

Entering their cave, the Spartan sat himself down farther inside, to dry himself off, before taking out a flare from his back pocket and lighting it. The darkness around receded as the Spartan looked at his soaking armor and said "We can leave the ship for now. If anyone comes to try and take it, we either kill said someone or destroy it after retrieving vital supplies..."

"Sounds good to me, Chief." Cortana said happily. "How're you doing?"

"Good... How long were we out?" He asked, checking his AR and taking it apart to clean it up.

"Accounting for it... Around 2 years in flight." She hummed. "I'm also detecting a lot of weird interference. The planet's ecosystem is pretty messed up..."

"Oh?" John raised a brow.

"I'm... Gonna need a few days to parse through all of this." She murmured, making John uneasy... She sighed, then added "Until then, we should probably start salvaging whatever fell and landed near our little hidey-hole." Cortana noted. "_After _the rain stops." And the Chief nodded. He took his rifle off of his back, then looked over it, making sure it was still in working order. Thankfully, as it looked, yes, the gun _was _in working order. As was its ammo.

He listened to the rainfall outside, watching the wall of droplets drape over the entire valley and the peaks of the mountains. The world they were on thrived with life. And it was not friendly in the least, as far as either part of this duo knew. Animals went about their business outside, eating, hunting and/or doing other things. The valleys, resembling of a greener Afghanistan from the History Books, were alive.

And as the rain finally started to die down, the next day, the Spartan walked outside first thing in the morning, rifle on his back and eyes open. The debris field wasn't far away from their little cave, so that made at least some sense... Chief had had to sleep on the ground, so he was thankful his armor was there to cushion his sleep. Considering what Cortana said, he was still running on wake-up mode. His mind didn't respond so quickly, thanks to cryo-sickness...

He'd be back in top shape in no time, though...

The Chief walked down, descending into the valley ahead of him, unsure of what he'd meet next. The valley was a place lush with life, with a forest covering much of its surface, save for areas near the steep rock walls. The shrubs were untouched by human feet, but trampled by the hooves and padded feet of the alien creatures. As he entered the virgin forest, unsoiled by man's touch, he pushed aside a branch, crouching under it and going forward. He kept his eyes both forward and on the floor, whilst waiting for signals from his Motion Tracker.

The walk continued, with Chief finding bits of Titanium armor scattered within the forest. He would keep the alloy for later smelting, should he have access to any facility that permitted that. For now though, his goals remained to find anything useful and take it back. The Chief had been in breakneck situations like this before, with little to survive with. He was the most thankful for his training at times like this-ah, there they were...

A dented metal crate lay ahead of him, its insides strung out across the floor. To the left of it, slammed against a tree, a second box with different content and a third to the third. Medical supplies, ammunition and MREs. Chief made a mental note to come back here... But for now, he put the boxes back together, put their lids back on and hid them in the shrubbery, only taking a medical pack, three extra mags and two MREs with him. Cortana had been awfully silent during the trip, but he figured she must've been busy figuring out... _Whatever _this place was.

He'd already found supplies to last him a while, so that was good news. He just needed to remember to come back for them after he completed his first sweep. He continued walking, his eyes scanning the tops of trees too... Some wires were strung between the branches. A section of an auxiliary generator's internal components was broken apart with the impact. Shards of high-tech components were impaled in the trunks of trees, or outright in the dirt.

Further ahead, he found a destroyed 'Hog. It was missing three wheels and half of its engine was blown clean off. It also had scorch marks linked to re-entry heat. Shame. He could've used something fast. But the forest got thicker ahead, so it probably would not have helped him... He passed by two weapons crates that were both torn to pieces, their contents broken. Spare parts for his guns, for when he came back...

... His Motion Tracker pinged... 300 meters ahead, ten feet below. Three unknowns. He drew his Rifle and ran for cover, sliding into position behind a pillar made of black stone. He took a knee as the first shot rung out, bouncing around the valley's many walls. He looked down, to gaze upon two... Very odd-looking humanoids. The creatures wore an armor of white and blood-red, with spikes pointing backward out of every facet of it. Their helmets had very narrow vision slits and their hands had four digits instead of the natural five... They moved nimbly, incredibly fast. And they held what looked like highly-advanced plasma rifles. The scarlet holo-targeters told him as much...

They were chasing a young woman, clad in what looked like a worn out black carbon fiber bodysuit with several attachment points. It was tearing at the seams, old and with a few decent holes here and there. She had cropped medium-brown hair and a pair of emerald eyes, one of which was closed, while the other stared down the iron sights of a finicky-looking pistol, almost resembling the energy weapons wielded by the creatures below.

She managed to fire off one shot. The small bolt of energy struck the plating of the semi-mechanical creature, only punching through a hole narrow enough to draw a bit of its black blood out. Two larger, more focused bolts of white-hot plasma washed over her cover, a fallen tree, leaving burn marks deep enough in the thick trunk. She poked the gun over the cover, squeezing the trigger. One bolt left again, but struck the floor and the two creatures returned fire once again. One round punched through the trunk and nearly gutted the girl, had it not been for her quick reflexes...

She ducked under the trunk, poking the gun through the hole and aiming... She squeezed off two shots, before her gun hissed and clicked... She gasped, eyes widening as she stared at the jammed pistol. She punched it once, twice and tried to fire, but it clicked again. All she could do now was simply stare at the approaching monstrosities as they trained their weapons on her...

But a burst of automatic fire erupted from above. Ten rounds. Three struck one creature, throwing its aim off and knocking off armor plating, while the other seven struck its buddy, hitting dead-center and penetrating through the armor. The second creature dropped to the floor, leaking the black, viscous liquid that was its blood onto the dirt below... The girl stared up and watched with awe as the Chief descended fast down the side of the wall, firing his assault rifle and taking the attention toward him. The living creature turned, trained its rifle on him and fired. The Spartan's shields flared, going to 26% from a single shot...

He drop-kicked the creature right in the head, snapping whatever stood for its spine, before he raised his rifle and emptying his magazine into it. Just to be safe...

Chief dropped his empty magazine onto the floor, before loading in a fresh one from his belt and sliding his rifle onto his back. He looked at the dead creatures, almost resembling Sangheilli in form, before turning to the girl. She still held that jammed pistol. And she was aiming it at him as she walked out from her cover... The Spartan's hand went for his own rifle again, but he paused as he watched a knife made of blue steel fly and strike the first creature to die between the eyes before it could once again raise its weapon to fire at him.

"... Have to aim for the head. Bions are tougher to kill than normal humans." The girl said, looking at the Chief still. The sheath on her hip was empty. So that was her combat knife... Okay, interesting, Chief had to admit.

"Thanks." He offered, lowering his hand away from his rifle. She lowered her pistol in return, but stared impassively at Chief. She was as pale as those who'd operated their entire lives on UNSC Warships. Usually ODSTs had this kind of complexion after months in flight. Them or Spartans. And going by the cropped-to-military-standard hair and the proficiency with which she'd avoided and fought those... Things... She must've been some part ex-military.

"Who are you?" She asked, maintaining trigger discipline. Chief had to observe the safety was still off on her handgun... And he couldn't take any chances.

... But then again, he couldn't exactly reveal who he was right off the bat... He hummed, then spoke "I'm an ally..."

A raised brow marked the only shift of her facial expression. Otherwise, her poker face remained perfect. She nodded. "Right... Uhm, thanks to you as well, for..." She motioned awkwardly to the dead creature. "... For dealing with those Bions."

"'Bions'?" He raised a brow.

"Federation Elite Units. Bred for war. Only there to kill." She noted, looking toward them.

"Familiar..." He spoke.

She snorted, a glint of sadness in her eyes "Yeah. Same..." Then she sighed. Turning her gaze to Chief, she introduced herself calmly "I'm Sara Reyner."

He nodded back "Good to meet you." And it was good indeed... They were making progress. First person Chief met that didn't shoot him on sight and wasn't UNSC.

"What's your rank?" She asked, sliding the pistol onto a makeshift holster on her hip. Chief tilted his head. The woman simply continued "Going by your gear, you aren't from around the bend. And with that knowledge and your hesitance to give me a first name, I figure it's best I directly ask for your rank, since you're more likely to give me that than your name. Because you don't trust me. You are military after all."

"Mhm..." John answered. She was smart, he had to admit. "Master Chief Petty Officer."

"Master Chief... Interesting." She nodded. "A pleasure to meet you too... Uhm..." And she rubbed the back of her neck, looking away, before noting "I'm sorry for keeping you." and walking toward one of the Bions. She took a knee, grabbed the plasma weapon off of its body, before turning to him. "You can take the other one and go if you wish... Thank you for the help again."

John hummed, then nodded in response, choosing not to say anything more. But the moment he walked away, Cortana poked in.

"Wow, Chief. Stop." She sternly ordered. "Seriously? You just met someone who was friendly for a change and only held you at gunpoint for three seconds... Ya seriously going to leave without asking more?"

"Thought you were busy." He whispered to the AI, turning his mic off and looking at the woman as she scrounged up her gear. Cortana chuckled, then shook her inexistent head at the Chief's denseness. He hummed, watching the woman grab the bodies and start dragging them toward the forest, before sighing... He knew what Cortana wanted him to do and he didn't like it. Working with unknowns like this didn't help their mission... Not yet, at least. But he knew she'd contradict that... So, he cut out the middle man, taking one of the bodies over his shoulder and looking to her, before speaking "I'm gonna need a local guide. Going by your damaged outfit and your way of acting, you'd probably be a lot of help around these parts." as they walked to dump them.

He saw her stare with awe at him, eyes glimmering with hope... He continued, offering a nod to her, then saying "And you will need people to help you fight those things off if they do show up again. We may want to cooperate if we want to survive for longer than a week." And extending his hand to her. She looked at the armored gauntlet, open toward her with friendly intent... A small smile appeared on her face as gripped and firmly shook.

"You got it." She held the smile. That was easier than she'd thought... "But... You don't know about the Federation?"

"... I was also hoping to get a briefing from you on them, yes." He nodded. "Let's go... It's gonna turn to night soon."

She nodded "Aye. Following your lead, Master Chief." And saluted promptly. Chief saluted back, then started forward.

He heard Cortana giggle and watched their newly-acquired party member holding her straight posture as she walked... Military through and through...Chief had a nagging feeling he had just been drawn into something he didn't like... Questions awaited back in the cave. And a great deal of them too. This girl could very well have been their ticket to getting off this rock... Cortana was right about talking to her for at least that chance...

... Damn Cryo-sickness...


	2. New Home

As night fell on their little strip of land, the Chief had been quick to gather the first set of supplies and currently the most important. The medical packs were going to have to be moved bit by bit back to their little home. Thankfully, there was two of them able to carry things. And as they moved up the hill with a stack of a dozen meds and MREs each, an audible gasp escaped Sara's mouth. Chief stopped, turning to her and raising a brow. Her gaze was affixed on the remnants of the _Dawn_.

She took two more steps forward, mouth agape, before she asked "You came here in that?"

"Crashed, but yes." John shrugged. "C'mon." And he continued walking. For all it was worth, she had good enough eyesight to spot a crashed Frigate in a mountain's side. The girl continued to follow him, before both entered the cave John had elected as his current base of operations. He set the medicine and MREs down in a corner. Sara followed suit, putting her own haul in the same spot. She looked around the place and rubbed her shoulders, shuddering.

"No fire pit?" She asked, raising a brow. She took a seat on one of the rocks

"Didn't have time or need from one." Chief mused. "Just arrived today."

"Makes sense. I'll go chop trees down, ready the fire pit." She said, standing up. "If that's okay with you?"

Chief simply nodded to her, watching her leave, before Cortana jumped back in and said "Hey, don't you think she's acting a tad familiar?" as she continued parsing through the data she could find. He shrugged in answer, to which his partner sighed. The woman was ex-military. Must've gone to SERE School too, considering she seemed to know survival techniques.

He had to admit she was an interesting one. John did sense a tiny amount of kinship with the woman. Every soldier, no matter the side, has a kinship with the others. Probably from the amount of blood they all saw spilled... He answered to her "A bit... But that's to be expected. She's former military after all." in a deadpan. Cortana hummed, then answered "Fair point, but still... She feels a bit _more _familiar than that."

"Hmm..." John wondered... He watched her come inside with several pieces of wood that had been perfectly cut. A small holo-computer on her right hand flashed, then vanished. She'd been pretty quick. She took a knee, then started assembling the fire pit from some loose stones and the wood itself, as well as some leafs she'd collected. She tossed them inside, thumbed one of them until it was smoking, then tossed it inside. Sparks came out of her right hand when she flicked her thumb on the dried leaf... Odd.

"That some kind of special device on your right hand?" He raised a brow. She looked to him, eyes wide... And nodded.

"It's a multi-purpose holo-tool... You don't have one?" She asked. John shook his head, just as the fire started proper... She raised a brow, sitting down beside the fire pit, then said "Need an explanation for it, I assume... A multi-purpose holo-tool is a device that allows the wearer to engage in multiple activities meant to aid in survival on a rim world like this one... It can help start fires, it can help with building by becoming a sort of 3-Dimensional printer that takes the material you have at hand and helps you build with it and it can usually help with basic crafting of components, though I'd recommend we do so with a machining table if we ever do get the power necessary for it... Speaking of, the MPHT also acts as a computer with petabytes-worth of blueprints and data... Again, to help with survival. It's also linked to the cerebral cortex."

John hummed, then looked as the woman brought up the tool itself. A blue-hued gauntlet of light enveloped her right hand fully, like a glove, right down to the carbon jumpsuit. She flicked through several settings, including the fire-starting one, before asking "Wait... How come you don't have one?"

"I'm not from around here..." Chief spoke, only assuming that was the truth since he wasn't sure himself.

Reyner raised a brow at the Spartan, then hummed. "That makes sense. Your armor is not any familiar design... Where are you from, then?"

He looked to her and didn't answer. The woman easily understood what that silence meant. She nodded, then continued her work. She looked over some of the wood they had left, then turned her head to the front of the cave, before offering "I can use it to build a cover for the mouth of the cave. A wooden wall and door." and standing up. "It'd help seal off the cave from the elements, keep the warmth inside."

"Okay." He nodded "If I can help with anything..."

"Thank you for the offer, Chief, but the M-Fit should do the job quick. I'm an engineer." She smiled. "Neural link helps."

"Figured..." He nodded. She stepped off to start building the little fortification, while the Chief looked on. "So, a three-dimensional pocket tool and 3D Printer." He noted as he watched her start building. He added "One that still requires some physical effort."

"It's an interesting design, I'll admit." Cortana spoke softly. "Think we can get one?"

"Probably..." The Chief mulled over the effects of the item as he saw them firsthand. The wooden walls, resembling those of a cabin, with planks and everything, formed and assembled as the woman moved hand and head to assemble them proper. Two walls were built up within 5 minutes, with an opening in the center. The woman used the remaining wood with the device to build what looked like a small double door that would slide open.

She turned to him, then gave him a thumbs up... He nodded back to her, approvingly.

"Heh. She's pretty handy with that thing." Cortana mused, smiling.

John stayed silent, watching the woman return to her seat. She leaned forward, toward the fire, extending both her hands to feel its warmth. The new weapon she'd acquired from that Bion lay on the floor beside her. The charged plasma weapons that this 'Federation' used were an odd set, resembling a combination of human and Covenant weapons.

"We should start searching for more supplies tomorrow." John said. Sara agreed with a light nod.

She added "We should also start digging... We may want to expand and build upon our little home here." before looking outward, to the door "Add to that we need to go check on the crash site of your ship."

"True, but first... How would one go about getting an MPHT?" The Spartan asked, leaning forward. She hummed, then checked her little utility belt, before pulling out a chip and tossing it to the Chief. She pointed at her right hand, then tapped her wrist... The Spartan hesitated for a second, before putting it onto his wrist. The device, as small as it was, slid through the cracks in his armor, through the carbon undersuit and linked to the skin... He felt a static shock course through his right hand and arm, before it reached and linked into his brain. The Neural Net flashed before his eyes... And he looked to his arm...

The tool appeared, a larger gauntlet wrapped around his armor. He looked to the woman, who simply smiled and said "I had one extra. Combat engineer requirements are that we carry a replacement just in case the right arm needs bionic enhancement after severe damage." with, once again, a sad look. Chief nodded, thanking her wordlessly as he started getting used to the appliance now attached to his arm.

"I'll teach you to use it in the morning..." The soldier girl yawned, before leaning onto the floor and turning away from the fire. "Good night, Chief."

"Good night..." he nodded to the girl.

Cortana chuckled "Oh, my god this tool is amazing... It's got basic amenity blueprints, work station blueprints, bed blueprints... And it adapts to and recommends the material we have most of! That's amazing! This is highly-advanced technology! Oh, it even has a..." The ecstatic AI's voice dropped considerably... "A calendar and clock... 5500..." And John's eyes went wide.

"... We can't have slept for that long." John murmured. "Check again..."

"... It's what it's saying, John. 5500... No month though." She spoke. "I'll pull up recommended blueprints while I keep parsing through the Data... When we have the material, I'd suggest we _do _upgrade our base to a more livable... Underground hut, I guess? And John...?"

"Hmm...?" The Spartan narrowed his lips, raising a brow as he still was processing what had just been revealed to them...

He had been right.

They weren't home anymore...

"I'd suggest helping with gathering resources. We can find our things easily..." She offered her own two-cents. If, honestly, the AI had to put it out there, she knew that surviving with whomever they would find was the only way of making it alive in this crazy new world. And that included gathering more resources for their would-be quest of escaping here.

"... Will do. You keep me informed about what you can find out..."

"Aye aye, Chief."

He shifted his position, leaning slightly back, to try and catch a wink of sleep himself. His mind was working on figuring out a plan as he slowly drifted off to the realm of dreams. His survival and that of Cortana depended on him being able to work cohesively with Sara and whomever else may come. His abilities to build would also be tested, as would the crafting skill of the Spartan. He'd need to hunt, gather, grow, build and craft...

He needed more people aside from him and Sara. And he needed to trust that this girl would cooperate with him on their endeavor. So far, she seemed privy to doing so. He'd hope that won't change too soon... And so, with his mind still processing events, he fell into a dreamless sleep, arms crossed as the fire crackled on... His wake-up had been gentle. His eyes opened slowly as he scanned their surroundings. The cave was now dark, but his enhanced eyes adapted to it rather quickly. He looked to the burned-out remains of the fire, then past it... Sara was not here.

He stood up, then walked toward the door, sliding it open to the sides... Sunlight streamed inside, brightly lighting the rocks of the cave. He saw her below, utilizing the holo-tool to chop down several more trees. To her right, there was a small hut, also embedded within the side of the mountain, a few steps from their main cave entry... A storage shed with a corrugated steel roof.

He walked down to join her, powering on the Holo-Tool in woodcutting form. He watched how she worked the device, by moving the tool slowly in a straight line, like a chainsaw. The small hardlight points that made contact with the tree's trunk dug into it without leaving much of a mess. She had to maintain the invisible beam steady as not to make a mistake... And it was showing. She was sweating a bit.

As she made the final, deep cut, the tree fell to the left, with a loud thunder echoing as it landed on the floor. She moved toward it, then started disassembling the tree itself into small logs and planks. The Spartan moved to another tree, following what she did... The first incision went well, with the Spartan maintaining a straight line as he cut into the tree's trunk...

Slowly, the Spartan's first cut turned as good as they came for first-triers. The trunk collapsed to the left...

"Nice work." The girl complimented as she walked beside him, crossing her arms. "A pretty clean cut for a first try, but mind you, you can do better."

"Thanks." He nodded as he watched her go into refining the wood into a proper resource for use. She picked up a stack of it, the motioned to the rest of it on the floor. The Chief took the stack of wood and hauled it with her toward the shed. He hummed as they entered the unlit place, only to see... An empty UNSC box now filled with unprocessed wood? He looked to her, then raised a brow.

She walked out, then pointed to one of the steeper rock faces and explained "I found the box there... It was empty." before turning to him and asking "Is the UNSC your faction? The ones you served?"

"Serve." He corrected, only adding a nod... She hummed.

"Got it. You'll have to tell me about them after we talk about the Federation, 'kay?" She asked calmly. "If... That's okay with you."

John nodded again. She sighed in relief, then smiled "Okay... Think wooden floors are gonna be fine for now?"

"For the cave?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna mine and level out the place a bit more. Build flooring and walls... Also add an extra section to mine out for when we need it." She answered, walking toward the cave. She was more active today... Probably was tired yesterday after travelling for too long. And the fighting. She looked to him, then spoke "I... May need a bit of help doing the finishing work on it, though, if you don't mind."

... John calmly answered "Tell me what I need to do."

Her smile grew again. She walked on, adding "Well, I'll need you to work on the superstructure and the overhead roof, to make sure the damn thing doesn't collapse in on us with all the rock. I'm gonna make it a 100 square meter room so we're able to move about and install basic necessities, like a table, chairs, simple beds and basic production equipment like a fueled stove, a butchering table and a research table. Speaking of, how much does your armor weigh?"

"... A few tonnes with me in it." Chief returned, raising a brow.

"Ah. So I'm gonna need to make a cot and a chair out of steel if I find any around... Going by the fact we're near the mountainside, it should be easy to acquire through mining, but..." She bit her lower lip, tapping her chin as they entered the room. "I'm also gonna need to make a wood-burning generator to power at least a simple lamp for our room and a few metal wires to conduct the electricity going from it."

She looked to the staring Spartan, then rubbed the back of her neck and said "Sorry, engineer mode kicked in... I'll get to work."

Chief nodded. "I'll build the walls and supports, then."

"I got the calculus for that at the ready, Chief." Cortana jumped in again. The two humans and their (unknown to Sara) AI Companion walked inside... Sara's tool powered on in digger mode and before Chief knew it, she was already mining out a pretty sizable area. John started working on building the walls utilizing the tool. It was a pretty easy assembly process, but he did have to go get the materials every now and again. A few hours of mining and building had passed and John soon saw Sara going on to work on the finishing touches, including installing the wood-fired generator outside the mouth of the cave and lining one of the walls with wires.

If the room were to be calculated by blocks instead of square kilometers now, it would be a 15x15 room, big and wide. And able to fit all the necessities. John looked over to the northern wall, the one facing where the _Dawn _would be, to see it lined with four different tables. A wooden butcher's table with a few tools made of pieces of the _Dawn_, including a meat cleaver that was made out of a small chunk of sharpened Titanium-A , resided on the left-most section of the wall. Following it, a metal stove with a door below for inserting firewood resided. After that, there was a table with different instruments from the _Dawn's _medical equipment that survived, for research and finally, a table with two chairs, one of steel and one of wood... Just in case.

In the far back of the room, near the door that lead to the as-of-yet unmined area of the mountain they would build their base in, there were the two cots, standing opposite sides and in mirrored positions. John's cot was on his right and it was, again, made of pretty resistant steel, while Sara's was made of wood. There were basic pillows of straws and some tarp. Not exactly comfy. But they'd do the job...

He watched Sara emerge from the mine, with more Steel to add to the pile. Her Holo-Tool shut off as she entered. With a smile, she said "Well, I got plenty of steel for when we may need it. Right now, I think we need to secure a meal source, but we don't have seeds to plant for food. Wanna go hunting?"

"I saw some fruit plants out in the wild." John suggested. "We could get the seeds to grow them from the fruit."

"Oooh, sweet! What didja see?" She asked, excited.

"I think they were strawberries and cherries of some kind."

"Perfect! Those'll do." She nodded. "We can go hunting and gathering then. I'm gonna need the backup in case we meet some bigger creature."

"Got it." John said, standing up and drawing his weapon. The girl went out to the shack to dump all of the raw steel in the stockpile, before walking back to join the Chief. She shut off the makeshift generator, a wood-burning stove that ran, pouring what little electricity it could into a series of wires from the ship through into the the wood wall and into a socket that powered their only light source, a lamp.

She drew her pistol, then looked over it. It was in rough shape, but operable... The Plasma Rifle was in a better state.

John's rifle, meanwhile, was operable too. And in starkly better state than the girl's handgun. The two nodded to each-other, then walked into the forest. "So..." The woman started as they strolled into the forest. "... How are your people?"

"Okay, I hope..." John mused, looking around and watching as the sun started to set for the night. He knew what she meant, but he had to pay attention for any food they could hunt. She turned her gaze back forward, watching for any prey. The Chief was somewhat talkative, but evasive. She wondered if he was in the same situation as her, but chose to squelch that thought for now... He wouldn't have been aboard a 'UNSC' ship if that was the case.

The Spartan raised his hand in a balled fist, showing a stop. The girl immediately snapped to action, taking a knee and readying her rifle. John knelt too, leaning forward as to hide himself best. The seven-foot-tall titan-whose height Sara had just now noticed-looked forward at a pack of tall, four-legged animals covered in cream-colored fur eating away at the grass. Seven of them per total. He looked to Sara, then motioned toward a tree on the right. She nodded, crouch-running as quietly as she could toward the thick-trunk tree and taking cover.

John moved to a tree with a thicker trunk, before raising his rifle and three fingers on his left hand. Sara shouldered the plasma weapon, aiming toward the herd of mammals and placing her finger on the trigger. One finger dropped and the girl tensed, slowing her breathing. The second dropped and she picked her target, aiming for the head to damage as little as possible of the creature. And the third dropped... Two shots, one a crack, one a screech, echoed in the valley, reverberating across from all directions...

Two of the creatures lay dead, one missing its head and part of its fur and the other was bleeding from the gunshot to the head. Their pack had scattered as the Spartan and his soldier companion approached. Sara nodded, then said "Crack shot..." as she wrapped the creatures' legs and picked one up. John took it from her hand and picked up the other one too.

"You pick the fruits, I'll carry these." He ordered. The girl snapped a quick salute and went ahead to forage... And with full pockets, the duet went back home, an hour's walk, as night began to set. Entering the room, the Spartan put the furry quadrupedal creatures near the chopping board, before going to the table and sitting himself down on his own chair. It creaked and groaned as the weight of the Spartan pressed down on it, before finally, the noises subsided...

He looked to the girl, to see her starting work on skinning the animals and noticed on her hip a very intricate kukri knife in a metal sheet. The weapon seemed fairly futuristic, at least grip-wise. But it was still the knife of the Gurkha. The Spartan watched the woman's steady hands as she cut into the skin, separated it from the meat, removed the internal organs and finally separating the parts with thicker meat content from the husk. She quickly disposed of the unusable remains, tossing them outside, before looking over the meat.

Chief watched her carefully move to preparing the meat in a dented pot that had water, tossing it inside and going to grab wood. She lit the stove with the wood upon coming back, keeping a steady supply of burn wood to her left as she worked on the food. She stirred in the pot. Every move she made was perfectly executed, from using some spice leafs that she'd identified and taken with them after foraging for fruit to stirring the pot as the meat boiled inside.

They'd recovered a slew of things after foraging and hunting, among which metal... And, luckily for them, enough wood to make bowls. The Spartan stared up at the barrack's roof made of rock, supported by wooden girders, before finally looking down to see a bowl of soup with chunks of meat in it. She sat herself down, then exhaled and said "All done." with a proud smile on her face. "I'm gonna smoke the rest of the meat so it lasts longer. Take it to the shed too."

"Good plan. Will keep us fed for a few days." He answered, leaning forward.

"Hey, she cooked a meal for you..." Cortana quipped, then whispered "To be fair, I kinda wanted to be first to do that, but..."

Ignoring Cortana's last remark, he leaned forward, turning only to see how the woman ate. She had a pair of single-use utensils. A spoon/fork combo and a knife, of course... She slid a similar single-use cutlery pack to him, then explained "Bought these off of a trader. There's a colony at the bottom of the valley if you feel like going for a day-long walk down there, to visit... I've been keeping them safe from any 'forced colonization' attempts the Fed Peacekeepers may've aimed at them for about a year now."

"Sure. Maybe at some point... And good work on that. They're more angry at you than they are at them." The Spartan quipped and his survival buddy snorted.

"Yeah, guess you're right. It's no surprise the Feds hate me so much though..." She said absentmindedly, before taking a spoonful of stew. "You gonna eat, Chief?" She asked, pointing with her spork at his food... He nodded, leaned forward, lifted his helmet and took his first taste of the food... For all it was worth, she was a decent cook. And she somehow had managed to recreate the taste of the soup from Reach... How odd.

He gave her a nod of approval and she simply smiled again, looking at what little she could see of the man's tired, sunken face...

The pale skin under the armor...

A single lock of brown hair escaping through the side of the helmet...

And if she looked hard enough, she could trace long scars borne from doing battle for years, to a pair of sunken, deep azure eyes...

But she couldn't see all of the features of his face. Which was irritating...

Chief was a mystery... One she now wanted and was committed to solve.


	3. Hammer meet ANVIL

On the fifth day since Chief's arrival, the sun rose over the lazy valley in the mountains and a stream of thick, grey clouds was moving in from the west, ready to envelop the whole of the mountain tops. Down below, a mix of Terran and other types of animals went about their business both in trying to find shelter from a coming storm and to hunt or forage for food. The peaks of the mountains surrounding the valley were bare no longer when the clouds passed over them.

Sara was leaned against the wall of wood at the mouth of the cave that was their base, looking outward to the edges of the valley. Her left arm ached. She looked to it, to see a deep scar behind the burned, worn-out carbon fiber. It pulsed with a moderate pain... She once again gazed outward, then murmured to herself "It's gonna rain. Pretty bad." as she continued scanning the skyline.

She watched as Chief walked outside, joining her, before showing wit in asking "Sleep well?"

"No thanks to the weather, yeah." He nodded, sliding his weapon on his back. He looked around too, then said "Looks like someone's passing by." And, upon noticing he piqued the curiosity of his fellow stranded survivor, he pointed forward and down. People clad in leather tribal wear moved past them, with a pair of large local animals resembling buffalos, just with... More fur. And white.

Sara hummed "The Confederacy of Iron Mount. Local, loose alliance of tribes busying themselves with trading with anyone on the continent... Didn't think they'd be this far out."

John hummed, watching the Tribals. Two turned their heads. A woman and a man. Both waved and Sara promptly waved back, to show they're friendly. A young child was among the Caravan moving across, as far as John could see. And she was smiling too, looking at the new arrival... They'd rolled in with the clouds, so they probably failed to see the _Dawn _embedded in the wall.

The soldier girl crossed her arms, watching them pass, before murmuring "Must be going to trade with the other villager faction nearby. Though those guys are more warlike than the Iron Mount."

"Hmm." John scratched his chin.

"I'd take it we're staying inside. Patterns suggest it's gonna rain pretty bad out." Cortana offered. "You two should try and mine out a bit more, expand the base if at all possible."

"Mhm..." John answered, then turned to Sara. "Going by the clouds, it's gonna be a pretty nasty rainstorm. Think we should work on expanding our base a bit further into the mountain and gathering whatever underground supplies we can dig up?"

"Sure thing, Chief." Sara looked to John. "Surprised how quick you caught onto using the M-Fit by the way." And, noticing he tilted his head again, she chuckled, then explained "The Holo-Tool. It usually takes people some time or a small crash course to properly use it. It's a pretty advanced piece of tech." and turned to go inside. John followed, closing the door behind him. The two went deeper into the cave, through the door near their cots and into the darkness. Chief powered his suit's helmet-mounted flashlights, then powered the Holo-Tool in mining mode.

Slowly, the duo chipped away at the surrounding stone walls, digging deeper and deeper into a cave unfamiliar to either. They were leveling out the place into an actual room by utilizing a similar, but somewhat more powerful version of the beams used to cut down the trees. They were basically hollowing out another room to build into. The Spartan continued to dig... 'Digging' meant cutting an X shape into a chunk of stone and sending a small pulse of energy into it to shatter it, effectively purging the strange stone.

"Wooo! Another vein!" He heard Sara call out joyously, turning his head to look at her, his helmet's lights catching her as she dug into what looked like a mishmash of stone and hardened material of a reddish hue. She gave a thumbs up to chief, then explained "I found another vein of compacted steel! This is gonna be doing wonders for when we need to upgrade!" and she paused. And, with a gasp, she turned to face a wall, before calling out "Chief, give me light here!"

The Spartan looked to where the light was needed. A wall of a darker shade of yellow, with what looked like wire, steel and machine shards encased within. Sara gave an approving nod at the sight, then explained "Compacted machinery. Basic electronic components we can use to build somewhat advanced tech, like batteries and the likes. But I may need to research it first... C'mon, help me dig this stuff out, then we can go for the Steel."

And as they dug out, Sara was humming along...

"She's pretty smart." Cortana noted, ticking a few things off a list in her head.

And they'd dug out a further expansion to build into at some point. Probably good to serve as bunks, Chief thought. He watched as she moved to the Research Table, sitting down on a chair she'd built during last evening. They'd partially expanded the base's facilities already, to include more wiring and a second wood-fired generator, for another lamp to enlighten their place and for the basic research table to have some lighting as she worked on it...

Chief knew well enough they'd need to upgrade several more things. If the Feds were hounding her and if they saw the _Dawn _crashing, they would know where to come looking. He could take on many creatures, but he'd rather not get outnumbered 100 to 1 if he could help it. Or if he did get outnumbered, he'd have a way to counterattack and swing his advantage back his way. He knew Sara was a capable engineer since she first expanded their base, so that would be easy... Hopefully...

"So, we going collecting food again, Chief?" The girl asked. "I think I saw some wild potatoes out there."

"Would help vary our diet... I want to find an entry to the _Dawn _afterward, though." He answered, readying his weapon. "Let's go."

The trek had begun with both military survivors ready. The clear sky was interesting to look at, enough so that Chief could swear he saw flashing beams of light overhead. Odd enough, but he'd have time to worry about it later... The two didn't talk as they walked, at least not this time. There was little interaction as Sara was focused on looking for traces of the potato plants. Stems, leafs or something...

... He heard a telltale rustle of leafs he recognized from past operations in woodland terrain. He thumbed the safety of his gun, making the girl stop. He nodded to her as she maintained her usual poker face. She blinked, then continued looking for the potato plants, hands hovering over the Plasma Rifle she had on her chest. Chief, meanwhile, scanned the surroundings carefully...

"_Chief." _Cortana spoke. "MT picked up something... Expanding search range to 400 meters."

The Spartan eyed his MT, to see about a dozen dots surrounding them. His helmet's outer sound sensors enhanced the rustling. He was right, that was the rustle of clothing scratching against the leafs and branches of bushes. He gazed forward, looking at a tree that was between... Two silhouettes, tactical gear. Rifles were trained and ready. Going by the silhouettes of the weapons... Old Kalashnikov models? Huh...

He elbowed Sara and she gripped her rifle, only to raise it in unison with the Chief, both going back to back... They were in a clearing. No cover. And Sara had no body armor to speak of. She tapped the Chief on the shoulder, raising three fingers off the left hand. Three shots left for the Plasma Rifle. Then it'd either burn out or... Chief didn't know. He looked around, watching as the soldiers patiently traversed each-other's line of sight, maintaining their guns locked on the Chief and his partner.

"Got comms from them..." Cortana noted "Poorly encrypted, mind you." She quipped.

"_Sledge One-three. __We're in position. Targets spotted us." _

_"Copy. Maintain perimeter. Be ready to fire when Actual gives the order."_

The Spartan eyed his comrade, then whispered "I think they wanna kill us." almost carelessly. He had his body armor. The girl didn't... He needed to make sure she survived, though

"Not like I haven't figured it out. They're taking their sweet time with it though." She quipped. "What's our plan?"

"Shoot our way out... Stay behind me." He noted, aiming his rifle for the closest one... Unless one of them came to talk to them soon, ask them to surrender or some dumb thing like that, Chief was gonna make sure they got the first shot off. And that they got out alive... He heard another safety click off, listening in as his helmet amplified their comms...

"Three..." Another voice spoke... This one distant...

"Two... Only wound the girl. Feds want her alive." It added... Chief laid his finger onto the trigger... He wasn't gonna let that happen...

"_One..." _

Before the man... "Actual", Chief assumed, could even finish that, the Spartan's lightning reflexes allowed him to fire the first burst. The Merc in his sights was washed with 7,62 ammo. His chest rig shattered under the sustained fire assault of the weapon. He collapsed, his AK dropping to the floor. The Plasma weapon of his partner howled its last two shots and two men screamed their death howls. The girl took cover behind him, drawing her Kukri.

She rammed the blade into the throat of a man that moved in behind the Chief, trying to fire a shotgun into the man's back... A Chain Shotgun, to be exact. The woman took to the weapon, raising it and firing a three-shot burst from the weapon at the advancing enemy. The Chief swept the trees with his MA5 as bullets pinged off his shield. It flared as its power slowly drained.

He moved his left hand to his belt, unclipping a frag grenade and tossing it into the crowd. He started moving backward, keeping his eyes on the trees and emptying his magazine into them, whilst also praying that Sara had cleared the back. He heard a groan from the girl, only to look back and see her right arm had taken a hit. A glancing shot that must've zapped into his shield, however, as the wound wasn't deep. She gritted her teeth, raised the Chain Shotgun and continued firing...

Two soldiers once again tried to move and outflank, while the rest had taken cover in the treeline. As they too entered that same treeline behind them, he pushed one of the AKs on the floor to the girl. She grabbed it and an armored rig off of a headless corpse, probably taken by her shotgun. She reloaded the AK, took cover behind a tree, then felt her wound as Chief continued to return fire...

She shot the two flankers with disregard, before checking the armored rig's pockets...

Two Russian fragmentation grenades... Rounded ones with a metal rod at the top where the pin and fuse were. She pulled the pin on one, hurled it without line of sight past the tree she was hiding behind, then looked to the Chief as his shields flashed, flared and died. He took cover as the AP rounds struck into the Titanium plating of his armor, before reloading his own weapon.

"So! Chief! An actual plan, please!" Sara asked with half-snark, half-beggary in her voice, taking a knee and shouldering the AK... The weapon was a modified AK, of course, with piccatini rails, a folding stock and even a scope at the top. She was glad these dumbasses brought in good kit for the fight. Even more glad she had some sort of armor to stop a few rounds.

"How many grenades do you have?" He asked, before he elbowed a soldier trying to stab him from behind his cover. The man collapsed with a caved-in skull, dropping his kit. The girl checked, then raised three fingers. Minus the one that she'd just used, of course... He nodded, looking over to their targets. If his shields held back the onslaught of rounds, he could very easily throw them into the packs of advancing foes...

Ah, yes, they _were _advancing in standard formations... That made things a little easier... He motioned to her to toss him the frags, which she did immediately. Pulling the pin on the first, the Chief moved back, firing his rifle one-handed, before throwing the first pitch. The grenade landed in the middle group, the one leading the assault, before it detonated, sending shrapnel into the men and the men themselves, to the floor, dead or wounded...

No armor on the legs... He motioned to the legs, then swept with his hand... She nodded, bending to the side and aiming for the bastards' legs as she switched to fully automatic. The gun kicked and bucked like a mule, but she managed to keep her aim steady, sending rounds of 7,62 into the thighs and legs of the bastards trying to kill them. The right group was her target, on which she intently focused as the Chief himself let loose his own weapon's bite...

... He had to admit, the girl's aim was good. Maybe if they got guns off of the Dawn, he could hand her an SRS99 to provide cover... Then again, she was an engineer as far as she said, so sniping wouldn't be her exact forte... He'd have time to figure out details later. He watched as one of the bastards, with heavier armor than the rest(including a helmet with a bulletproof visor), charged him... Chief cocked his fist back after throwing the next grenades to finish off whoever was wounded by Sara's sweeping fire, punching straight through the thick glass into the man's jawline and snapping his neck...

And finally, with casings still smoking on the floor and dead bodies littering the clearing, the Chief and his partner had taken a moment of reprieve. Whoever these guys were, the Feds sent them... Chief knelt beside one, ripping what looked like a pair of Tags off of him... His name was scratched out, but the 'Company' he belonged to wasn't... 'ANVIL'... Hmm...

Sara breathed a sigh of relief, sitting down by the tree she used as cover, then said "Man... Hell of a day..." And as she gazed around "And we haven't even found the po-..." She paused, then smiled as she saw the telltale leafs of the objective... "Tatoes... Nevermind, there they are!" She smirked, diving into and digging out the potatoes... By the time she was done, her bag was full of both 'taters and seeds... She looked to the Chief, then, through her tired panting, asked "Can... We go home now? And go check your ship tomorrow? I'm kinda burnt out..."

... John nodded. He agreed, that was tiring...

... But then again, he needed answers...

He went to the bodies, retrieving whatever wasn't sullied by blood, including their firearms, before walking toward the girl. The two nodded to each-other, then they walked away... He knew there was still a shooter out there watching him. Some of the shots he took were high-caliber and from sniping distance, at around 1000-1500 yards. And if he had to hazard a guess... He hadn't killed their 'Actual'... Just his goons.

He'd figure things out eventually... Cortana was probably already working on it, knowing her.


	4. It's Raining Pods

**_Federation Forward Ops Base 'Mars'_**

**_Barito Badlands_**

**_Several miles South of the Forward Unto Dawn's crash site_**

A dozen buildings and bunkers, lined with plasma gun emplacements and painted the bright white and scarlet of the Federation Armed Forces, towered over the old asphalt highway of the Rimworld. Almost two hundred soldiers of the First Legion manned this outpost. Peacekeepers of the highest caliber. The most well-trained men and women that the Federation could muster in defense of her borders patrolled the land, with Bions and mechs beside them.

From the third story of the command post, a heavily reinforced, Foerum-protected bunker embedded into the side of the tallest mountain in the badlands, a single woman stared out at her soldiers, on patrols, in formation or just resting. In her hand was a combination of melee weapon, cane and precision plasma rifle. She pushed her long, raven hair over the shoulder of her scarlet armor.

Red, gene-engineered eyes locked onto a patrol of Bions returning from battle. Bearing marks of damage in the form of dented armor and scorch marks, the tank-bred clones marched on nonetheless, back to their tanks. Content with the image of the sunrise bringing light to the ferro-concrete roads of the outpost, the commanding officer of the Federation First Legion turned herself to the command center.

Holographic consoles lined the rear wall, where operations chiefs, communications officers and requisition corps AI maintained a thorough, well-built logistics division that provided all ground troops with the food, armor and weapons used to run the well-oiled, hundred-thousand strong army present on the planet. In the center of the large room, resided a holographic display table presenting images of the planet itself. It, too, was surrounded by Federation techs rummaging through the data.

The woman descended to the holographic table, eyeing a section of the planet that was run by roaming bands of tribals, pirates and an odd species. She hummed. Turning her head to one of the techs at the table, she asked, her voice smooth, yet authoritative, motherly, yet harsh "Have we received word from the scouting unit we deployed to Sector 12?" and she smirked as she saw the tech visibly shudder.

"N-No, commander... We haven't." He weakly responded.

She looked up at the sector and said "Zoom in for me." watching as the globe spun and narrowed down onto one area. Sector 12 was a mountainous region with few, if any passes in-between its many, tall mountains. Yet, sensors detected seismic activity from one of its tallest peaks down, almost as if there had been an impact. The few active spy satellites they still had were not going to be orbiting directly over that area any time soon. She licked her lips, then asked again "What about the mercenaries we sent in search of our lost trooper?"

"He has just arrived, ma'am." The Commander heard a gruff, harsh male voice speak from the door. A single scarlet 'eye' served as the visor for an angular helmet with a large face plate, fastened into place by a dozen small Foerum supports. On his right shoulder, attached to a thick breastplate was a black and red cape and on his back, a high-power, experimental Plasma rifle, given only to the soldiers and commanders of the Unity Guard, the Federation Peacekeeping Corps's best.

He was one of her best soldiers and friends. She remembered him fondly for what he had been before the Mechanoids struck, not for what he was now:an amalgam of biological engineering and hyper-advanced, ancient alien tech. Alas, he was an asset. One that proved very useful.

He and his soldiers dragged a single man into the room. Stripped of weapons and the almost ancient combat armor he had worn when out on mission, the man was left only in a Battle-Dress Uniform with camouflage reminiscent of an old Terran nation's best. The soldiers tossed him to the floor in front of the commander, which garnered a grunt of pain from him.

She took a knee, then said "I hired a squad of your mercenaries... Where are your comrades?"

He looked up, right into her burning scarlet eyes, then said with spite "Dead... The girl you sent us after had backup..."

The Commander made no effort to hide her confusion and surprise, stating matter-of-factly "She was supposed to be alone. She deserted, after all." before she looked to her Captain and said "Go find her former squadmates..."

"It was a big motherfucker, not one of yours... Not by the armor." The ANVIL Contractor corrected, then pushed himself into a seating position by the stairs. "Hell, I'd almost say he was Greydale or Jotun..."

"Greydale don't have large operations in this sector of the galaxy and Jotun is still busy with the Mechanoids on their planet.." She glared at him. "And I don't think mere tribals have the skill or knowhow to make armor and gear out of Plasteel."

"You'll see if you meet the guy... He and the girl murked everyone in my squad."

The Commander shook her head and sighed in disappointment, before standing up. The ANVIL operator started to speak, but one fell swoop from the woman's weapon shut him up. His head rolled on the floor, right at her feet. The tip of the cane then struck the floor with a loud crack. Her gaze swept the command post and saw that every single one of those there had stopped, staring at her with wider eyes than before. All, but the Captain. She looked to him, then said "Instruct a force from outpost Sigma to scout that location. Tell them to deploy Seekers and Stalker Bions."

"Understood, Commander Sereniz." The Captain spoke, saluting. He walked off...

She turned to everyone, then spoke "This planet clearly needs us more than ever. Peacekeepers of the Federation, look upon what man's wildness can do, but do not despair! We are those who will bring the light to this wretched rimworld and deal with any threat that may arise, be it mechanoid or human! Continue your work, for we will all return to the Core Worlds as heroes. In honorem foederatio!"

_"In Honorem!" _The soldiers cried "_Et in honorem praefectus Sereniz!"_

With a content smile, the woman returned to the window, stopping only to wipe the blood of the ANVIL merc that was on her boot on the corpse.

* * *

"How're you holding up?"

The Spartan had noticed Sara tending to minor wounds with one of the IFAKs they got off of the ANVIL fire-team. Going by what he found on the squadron of PMCs, these men were hired to kill Sara, presumably by the Federation if they were willing to send Bions after her. She was also re-stacking magazines for use later in the day. Standard ANVIL kit seemed to be old Russian armaments, weapons and even BDUs from before the formation of the UEG. More specifically, the team now had a stack of 6B43-type armor, nicknamed the 'Fort' in one of the ANVIL Mercs' memoirs.

Aside from the armors themselves, they got Altyn helmets with visors, AK variations ranging from the basic 47 to the 103, 104 and even 105 and dozens of Russian-made grenades. He'd yet to answer to Sara, though. So, he did so with the most monotone voice he could give, still processing what was going on while Cortana worked on the data"I'm fine."

She hummed, "Right..." before turning back to her wounds. "Say... Did you know this planet's called after an old desert on the Capital Planet?"

"Oh?" He asked, watching the outside.

"'Mo-Jave', I think... I don't know how it's pronounced." She shrugged, before sliding one of the magazines back into the AK. John hummed and Cortana chuckled.

"Mojave. Like the Mojave Desert, back in the old United Republic of North America." She quipped. John had figured, but... He looked up at the sky. A flash of light high in orbit was followed by a deep rumble and the sight of a dozen small meteoroids entering the upper atmoshpere. And Cortana added "Well... That was unexpectedly unlucky. Mayday signal from a transport vessel called 'TCF _Persephone'._ And I'm detecting a dozen escape pods coming down... Well, nuts, five of which are gonna land nearby."

"What was that?!" Sara jumped to her feet, approaching the door and looking up. "... Oh, shit."

"Civilian ship..." John murmured.

"And drop pods. Five, coming in close." She said, pointing exactly at the pods Cortana was tracking. The two soldiers exchanged a glance, then watched the pods arc down into the valley. A loud thunder bellowed across the mountainous region as the escape vehicles' thrusters powered. The vehicles landed about half a kilometer ahead of them, deep in the forest. The two stepped off without a second thought.

And Cortana hummed "Well, at least I know you two think alike."

Entering the forest, the two soldiers sprinted, with the Chief taking he lead while Sara hanged back, running slower to conserve energy for her own sake. She was wearing heavier armor and was hauling a gun and enough ammo for said gun in the rig. The rustling leafs, the blowing wind and the floor and bushes being littered with resources. The Chief slowed, raising his rifle and scanning the treeline. Sara went to cover his back.

The Spartan's motion tracker pinged 4 unknowns around them. One was right ahead...

And the rack of an automatic rifle's bolt was enough for the two to train their weapons on a red beret. Clad in a light set of 21st century armor, the soldier was a woman. A pair of emerald eyes, wide as saucers, locked with those of Sara. Slowly, the women lowered their rifles, then the redhead _beamed. _With a soft voice, she said "So that's where you went, Sara."

"Pris... Long time no see." The Drop Trooper responded, a dumb smile plastered on her face.

"That, it has." Her friend slung her rifle on her back. She gave Sara a once-over, then snorted and asked "Running ANVIL kit nowadays?"

Sara looked down at her gear, then said "Oh, right... No, this is stuff we got off an ANVIL platoon that tried to kill us. Armor, ammo and the AKs." and looked between the Chief and the woman ahead and noticed the Spartan staring between both of them. He had slung his own rifle on his back and was staring at her now as if he asked the relation between her and Pris-Ooooh. Right. Sara quickly realized her mistake and, with a smile, she motioned to the redhead with a military beret, explaining ecstatically "Right, sorry Chief, this is Sergeant Priscilla Bellerose. One of my fellow drop troopers. Pris, this is the Master Chief. He's helped me stay alive."

"Chief, huh?" The woman approached the Spartan. She found herself needing to crane her head up to look him in the visor. To that, she quipped "Christ, you're a tall one." before extending her hand, "A pleasure, big guy. Hope Sara wasn't too much trouble for you." an ear-to-ear grin on her face. Chief grasped her hand firmly and shook, before shaking his head. Pris's grin widened, if that was possible.

Chief then said something that spooked Priscilla a bit... "Mind telling the others to pop up?"

With a slight tilt of her head and a snort, Priscilla looked back and yelled "Alright, everyone! We're safe, you can come outta the bushes now!" and whispered "I gotta know how you did that, Chief."

"Hmm." The Spartan answered, watching as the four others emerged. A young woman with long, messy blue hair and grey eyes came out first, an American military woodland jacket draped over her shoulders, covering the body armor. Chief had just now noticed that the leading woman had a favorite set of guns. The G36C Assault Rifle platform, by the old Earth company H&K.

"Haul ass, Zele, we ain't got all day..." Pris quipped. The young woman seemed to hobble a bit and she was pale, but she made it to Priscilla's side. Following her, a redhead beauty with wavy hair approached. She was taller than 'Zele' and seemingly stronger, too, toting an FN Minimi squad automatic weapon. She wore a leather jacket over body armor and a camouflage uniform, with black hiking boots.

"Yo." She waved to Chief. "I'm Miranda Mars, but most of my friends call me Panda. And don't mind me sayin', but Jeez, you're a big guy." and he now noticed both her arms were bionic in nature. Highly advanced bionics, hidden under the sleeves of the jacket and with only the fingers and the wrist servos being visible under a pair of fingerless gloves. On her right wrist, she had a military-grade watch. The bionic arms were a decent explanation to why she could haul the Minimi.

Up next was a girl with raven hair, tied in a ponytail and with a fringe over the right eye. Good enough point to show she was a lefty as she hauled a G36C assault rifle in matching with the others and was dressed in a similar woodlands uniform to the others, with black combat boots and a plate carrier rig. She seemed peppy, a smile as wide as can be on her face. She gave a nod to the Chief, then waved to Sara and finally went to introduce herself "Hey, you two. I'm Paulette Mendez. Happy to meet you."

And finally, a young man with a scoped, bolt-action rifle marched from the shrubs, with a noticeably gigantic rucksack on his back. He was a handsome fellow, not that the girls were lacking in the looks department, Sara thought. The weapon he had was the Canadian-made C14 Timberwolf sniper, with a polymer stock and hardened barrel and, clearly, a large muzzle break device and a 12x scope.

He smiled at the Chief and Sara, then offered a nervous "Hello..." and spoke as calmly as he could "I'm Tyden Boor... Nice to meet you both."

"You two got a place?" Pris looked to Sara. A single nod was the response. She and the Chief took the lead. It wasn't long before the group of 7 were out of the forest. Priscilla whistled aloud, stopping in her tracks and looking up at the _Forward Unto Dawn. _She yelled out "Holy fuck! Did the Chief come here in _that_?! Look at it, it's got more guns than most of our fleets!"

"I know, right?" Sara smirked. "Speaking of, Chief, we should probably go scout it out."

"We will, but when the sun rises." He answered "Right now, we need to expand quarters and food production."

"So, dig deeper and make a bigger farm." She smirked. "Gotcha."

"A soldier too?" Priscilla asked, approaching John's left. He hummed approvingly, garnering another smile out of the Sergeant. She spoke "Well, it's good to know me and Sara won't be alone in training the four behind us... They're civvies. Zele's full name is Jenni Ikavalko, by the way ,but she's uh..." and winced "Mute." before looking back to a struggling Tyden.

"I see." Chief hummed, turning back and stopping Tyden, before he grabbed the bag and slung it over his shoulder. He then asked "I presume this is what you landed in those escape pods with."

"Yeah..." Tyden nodded. "Ammo for our guns, some basic resources like steel, wood and electrical components and a lot of packaged survival meals... So we should probably be good for a bit on foodstuffs."

"MREs aren't really that nutritive, Tyden. You'll probably eat two per serving." Priscilla quipped, looking ahead at the small, mountain-stuck shack that the Spartan and Sara had been using as a home for the time of their stay here. She smirked, then said "Nice building spot. Out of the line of sight and dug into the mountains. Gonna be hard to crack this place when we get it up and running prim and proper."

"That's the plan." Sara quipped. "I'll go ahead and prep the beds."

And she ran off, entering the building first. Priscilla eyed the Spartan, noticing the UNSC Eagle crest on his armor's breastplate. She hummed, then said "So, Chief. Sara just told us you murked a squad of ANVIL troops and stole their things... The hell happened?"

"They were sent after her. We met them while we were gathering potatoes, to plant for our food source." Chief answered, holding the bag by the strap as they walked forward.

Priscilla hummed, unsure if she should be the one to put it out there about her and Sara's occupation. Against her better judgement, she chose to keep it to herself, only asking "I see. Any idea why?" as she checked the rig placed over her armor.

"The Federation want her dead." He answered simply.

The Sergeant chuckled "And, by association, now they want you."

"Probably." Chief then returned as calm as if he was ordering food. The woman blinked, surprised.

"Ain't you concerned? Even as they are on this Rimworld, the Feds have a lot of military power... And energy weapons."

"No. What do you mean?" He looked to her calmly.

"Oh, you don't know? The Federation's collapsed... From the inside out. Smaller nations have begun appearing."

"I see... And..." He raised a brow.

"We were on a colony ship heading to a world in another system when something went wrong. Anyways, the point is, the Feds probably have an army here and if you managed to piss them off, they'll becoming our way soon enough." She explained rather thoroughly. She grinned, noticing how calm the Spartan seemed to be about this. Either the guy really didn't know the Feds that well, or he was confident in his own skill. They had made it to the door.

He nodded, already having figured out the need for defenses, "Mhm."

"So, as you probably already thought, we should expand defenses." She basically put it into words already... He hummed.

Then he answered calmly "Yeah." before he opened the door and put the supply bag on a wall, leaning it against it. He saw Sara had just finished the assembly of the beds, standing up proudly. She gave a quick thumbs up as the team entered the small, cozy cottage and set their gear aside. Zele was the first to sit down on the bed in the far corner, leaning her rifle on the wall beside the bed.

Priscilla stopped in the middle of the room, then turned to the others and said "Well, folks... Looks like we got lucky. I'd be ready for work tomorrow. Zele, you're gonna help Sara plant our food, I imagine." receiving a nod from the mute. The Sergeant looked to Chief, then said "I guess you're gonna be setting us up with how we work and the likes? We came with a few seed for different plants in the bag, so..."

"That's good." Chief nodded.

"Aye aye. What'll ya have me and the others do?" She asked.

"Patrols, mining and expanding our living... And probably research." He answered, sitting himself down on his reinforced steel cot. She smirked, then gave an approving nod, before noticing the makeshift stove ,table and lights. Yeah, Research to expand power output was probably gonna be necessary, since a rinky-dink generator like the one outside wouldn't count for shit if they needed defenses. A solar farm and maybe a thermal generator, if they could find a vent in the cave they were in. Right now, though, the Sergeant went to her own bunk, sat herself down, set her rifle aside and wiped her eyes, before suggesting "Maybe Tyden should work as our hunter... He's got the longshot rifle."

Chief looked to Tyden, who gave his approval, clutching the Timberwolf sniper close. The Spartan approved the choice, watching as Paulette and Panda unloaded the supplies in the bag. Steel, components, wood and MREs, just like Tyden said. Tomorrow, he and Sara will probably be gone scouting while the others worked. Right now, though, they needed rest. And rest the team would have.


	5. Under Fire

A day and a half had passed since the arrival of the five new survivors in Chief and Sara's little inner circle and they turned out to be fairly proficient at cooperating to survive. With Priscilla acting as a single-woman patrol and warning system around the perimeter, the others were free to make the place somewhat more livable. Zele had caught on to how to till soil for crops to grow well and rather quickly, having already planted a dozen potato plants in the small farm they had. Meanwhile, Tyden had been out hunting, rifle in hand, for the better part of the day with Paulette. Thus, Panda, Chief and Sara could focus on expanding the base further out.

Mining had proved to be surprisingly easy, once Chief did it for more than an hour's time. Their base now had a few separate rooms aside from the main area, with Panda actually making a working kitchen. Sara, of course, ran research duty and had, so far, produced several advancements, among which being thermal and solar power and batteries of several varieties.

Chief and Cortana had to remind themselves she had been an engineer at some point. A military engineer. The things one of them could pull off with nothing but scrap at times were proof they were smart enough as researchers too. Panda seemed content to work her own way through mining, with an M-Fit on her wrist and a pair of headphones on her head, she mined on in a 21x21 pattern, stopping only to build the rare wooden support beam so the damn roof wouldn't fall on their heads.

"Surprised how quick-witted the kids are." Cortana quipped. "You'd think they'd be more scared of... I don't know... Surviving on a world like this?"

"Mhm." John nodded, his external mic shut off as he worked on mining out a vein of compacted machinery, surprisingly.

"You okay, John? You seem a bit off." She hummed "... Don't tell me. Gut feeling?"

"Yeah."

She knew him well. Were her lips visible, she would clearly be smiling as she spoke "Think something's gonna go awry? We haven't gone to check the _Dawn _yet because of interruptions like the kids." as he continued his own work. The _Dawn _could well have acted as a massive source of supplies. From the recycled titanium, to perhaps even the Rampart point-defense cannons they could reuse for ground defense and, if luck was with them, the reactor. If they _could _repurpose the reactor, that would save them a lot of time in finding ways to power their home... Plus, she still had weapons lockers, vehicles and ammunition on her decks.

"We'll check her today, if possible." He answered, then he turned to Panda and waved. She nodded, smiling, before turning to continue her work while the Spartan left the mine-shaft and exited through the front door. Staring out into the valley, he saw the sky was clear, a deep teal hue and the mountains around them towered high. His gaze swept over to the small farm. Much to his surprise, the plants were already sprouting leafs and probably growing.

"Chief."

He locked eyes with Sara, who leaned on the door. She cleared her throat, then tilted her head toward a small construction site where supplies had been delivered. Steam hissed out from the hole in the ground by the spot where steel and electrical components waited to be used in construction. With a nod, the Spartan stepped off toward it, checking his M-Fit with the help of Cortana. She brought up the schematics of a thermal generator and powered the tool, setting it to construction mode.

He stopped, took the supplies off the floor and let the M-Fit absorb them. With his hand outstretched, he let the device work. It thrummed to life, two tendrils of energy extending out from it. Slowly, the massive power-generating device took shape under the Chief's eyes and before long, it whirred to life, its interior electronics beginning to gather energy from the planet's own heat.

He soon saw Priscilla returning from the patrol, her rifle slung on her back. She grinned, powering on her own M-Fit and starting up construction of the underground power conduits that led all the way to the base. The girl said "All clear, though Tyden and Paulette passed me by. Said they saw a herd of bison going that way and they figured we could use the foodstuffs."

"Good choice." He nodded.

"Tell me about it." She smirked. "Never had bison burger before. How about you, Chief?"

He shook his head as he looked toward the valley, that nagging feeling in the back of his head growing stronger. The woman eyed the Spartan staring out into the valley and elected not to bother him, seeing his fists clenching and unclenching. Something was bothering the Chief. Priscilla knew the signs since her time serving. And now, she felt her heart drop as she got that gut feeling too...

She finished the conduits and entered the main 'hall' and research area of the base, turning her head to the basic research table to gaze upon their young Engineer doing work while sat down on a basic wooden stool. She walked up to her, setting her rifle down, then pulled up her own chair and sat beside her. Leaning on the table, she looked at Sara. Pris knew Sara too well, from their time serving together. She knew the look. The focus on her work?

"Chief's got that same look." Priscilla stated bluntly.

Sara looked to her old friend and quipped "How can you tell with the helmet?"

"Gut instinct... It's kicked in for all 3 of us." She mused. "Sara... Do you think...?"

Sara shrugged "Tyden and Paulette are farther out, right? If anything, I don't doubt they'd run back here to warn us in case they saw something wrong..." she hoped, truly, that nothing was coming and that they were just getting rusty. But her time in the Drop Corps taught her otherwise... She grabbed her AK and set it beside her, just in case. Priscilla hummed, nodded and leaned back, watching the scientist-in-chief do her thing for a little.

Sara scoffed a few moments later, slamming her head onto the table and murmuring a quiet expletive. She turned to her friend, then said "Alright... Should we start prepping?"

"I'll talk to the chief." The Sergeant cracked a smile at her friend's reaction. She stood up, slung her rifle on her back and watched the girl do the same. After Sara took to donning her armor, the two walked off. One went out to construct a series of barricades, while Priscilla spoke with the Chief about the unfolding events.

Farther away, meanwhile, Tyden and Paulette worked.

Paulette eyed one of the creatures they were hunting through a pair of ancient binoculars. Majestic, tough and as old as humanity, the bison were an animal originating from the Core Worlds. Though now a disparate rarity there, on Agri-Worlds and RimWorlds, these guys and gals thrived as wild animals high up in the cold mountainous areas. Covered in earth-colored, dirty fur and with long, sharp horns on the sides of their head, the males guarded the herd. And one of them was lined up neatly in Tyden's crosshair. The girl said "300 meters."

He racked the bolt of the rifle, then said "Ready." as he slowed his breath, grip tightening on the rifle stock and finger twitching on the trigger.

"Shoot whenever ya feel like it." She smiled, leaning the binoculars on the grass. They were about half a kilometer away from the herd, so she wasn't sure how they'd react. She surely jumped when the rifle's crack echoed across the valley. She looked through the binoculars and watched the round land square into the side of the creature's head. One dead bison... One whole lotta meat.

"Nice! Good shot!" She raised an open palm. The two did the ancient, momentous motion of the high-five, before the boy cycled the bolt again and looked down the scope, toward the rest of the herd. The animals scrambled, running down the valley. Another shot cracked and another one fell, with the others escaping. Two bison were hopefully enough meat for a little while, at least.

Wait...

"Tyden..." The girl's voice cracked due to fear as she elbowed him and pointed far to the right, on a cliff face. The young man frowned, then turned the rifle toward where she was pointing. He blinked twice, then looked over the scope and back down the scope. Marching on the side of the cliff, on an old path were creatures made of white alloy. One scarlet eye peered from an angular, terrifying helmet. The creatures were hunched back, segmented plating covering the black bodies underneath and in their hands with four elongated fingers were long, shimmering weapons.

Following them were battered-looking soldiers, more like civilian militia, carrying broken-down and worn variants of the same weapons. Pistols, carbines and rifles, to be exact. There were about a dozen humans, with 7 of those strange creatures. Bions, Tyden recalled. Bions and Federation Auxiliary troops. He and Paulette looked to each-other, fear plastered on their faces. They stood up, packing up their equipment, then they ran.

... Chief watched the sun reach the top of the sky. It was midday now and Sara and Priscilla had just finished setting up a defensive perimeter.

Steel barricades hidden beside trees and around the base in three layers, with simple booby traps in-between them made for perfect firing positions. The most defended was the newly-built generator, with a line of barricades surrounding it and bear traps placed in the grass in an interval. The defenses were makeshift, poorly planned and underwhelming, but they'd do the job. He hoped.

The Spartan eyed Tyden and Paulette running toward them. The two skidded to a halt in front of the Chief, panting heavily as the exhaustion finally set in. Tyden looked up to the Chief, then croaked out "Feh-Feh... FEDERATION! They're sending troops! Bions and Auxiliaries are heading this way..." And he hacked and coughed. Chief jumped, drawing his weapon and ready to spring into action. Sara and Priscilla joined up with them, seeing Tyden and Paulette tired out and the Chief with his weapon at the ready, they knew...

Priscilla looked toward the main entrance just as Zele and Panda appeared. She yelled out "We got incoming! Rally up!"

With their weapons in hand, the two girls ran down the hill, while Chief got as much info as he could out of Tyden. Sara and Priscilla looked more horrified by the second as they heard the word. They exchanged looks of fear, then looked to the Spartan. Sara spoke first "Stalker-class bions. Specifically modified as snipers and scouts... And if they've got a squadron of auxiliaries with them, we must've royally pissed off someone up top."

"The only way to kill those fuckers with the guns we have now is to aim for the single eye sensor. And they'll be at a distance of at least 700 meters from us, with plasma snipers. Auxiliaries will be easy to kill, since their armor is shit and their tactics are even worse." Priscilla noted, racking the bolt of her G36. She looked to Tyden, then said "We're gonna need you two to be our counter-snipers. We'll keep you safe and deal with anything that comes close."

"You want us to out-snipe Stalkers?!" Paulette protested, her face red "Are you crazy?!"

"You can run, but they'll see that and pop you in the back before you even make it to the door." Sara warned, glaring at the cowardly youngster, who shrunk under her gaze. Sara's expression softened as she continued "And trust me, AR-500 steel and ceramics can't stop a high-velocity focused plasma round from punching through. You wanna have even the _slimmest_ chance at living? You fucking shoot them first. And remember, the eye is your target."

"I, Priscilla and Sara will take up frontline duty and distract the Snipers as best we can. Panda, you've got the LMG... Lay into them the moment you got them in your scope." Chief ordered the girl with bionic arms, receiving an approving nod as the redhead put on her mean face. He looked to Zele, then spoke "You'll be keeping guard beside her, Zele. Anything gets too close for comfort, you kill it if it didn't hit a trap beforehand."

The mute jerked a thumb up, shouldering her rifle. Chief looked to Sara and Pris and saw them with their rifles at the ready. He looked to everybody, then nodded, readying his MA5. The team scrambled into positions, evenly divided now between the three lines of defense, with the Sniper and Spotter duo taking position in the rear. The Spartan squinted just as Cortana said "Motion Tracker's kicking up... Signatures 300, meters out."

In that part of the treeline, the girls had put bear traps and punji sticks. The latter were old traps consisting of sticks placed in a deep pit only to be covered by a thin layer of leafs and shrubs. They were most famed for being used by the Viet-Cong communist militias during the American-North Vietnam War. Chief had read about their horrifying effectiveness in training. He had to admit, he was impressed... And indeed, Chief understood how dangerous they could be.

The crack of a thin supporting roof breaking and a scream of pain echoed from the trees, followed by the clang of a metallic bear trap clasping around the leg of the unsuspecting victim. Priscilla squeezed the trigger of her rifle, firing into the shrubs, down where she expected the Auxiliary troops were, with Sara following suit immediately after. Chief, too, squeezed the trigger the moment a white helmet popped over the bushes.

The corpse of an auxiliary trooper collapsed through the thicket. The response came soon. A dozen inaccurate shots of focused plasma struck the floor, barricades and the trees as auxiliary soldiers, men and women clad in weak armors, carbon jumpsuits and some times, just plain clothing with Federation patches. Chief waved to Panda, who grinned, gazing down the ACOG scope on her LMG. She shouldered the weapon firmly, then said "Come to mama..."

The rattle of a machine gun was something Chief was used to. Panda's shots, however, were far more accurate than suppressive fire. The woman shot six or seven rounds and had a half-second break between them, realigning her shots.

He ducked as a far more focused Plasma round struck him square in the chest, draining his shield in one shot. Cortana announced "Stalker sniper rifle at about 700 meters. Pris and Sara were right..."

Chief heard Priscilla yelp. He looked to see her stumble back, before she dived back into cover as a second shot struck where her head had been. She hid behind the barricade, dropping a half-empty mag and sliding in a fresh one. The Spartan looked to Tyden just as the snap of his rifle came to them. Cortana reported "Tyden's a good shot. He just got one of'em."

"One down." Chief mused. "How many more?"

"Usually, they operate in teams of 7." Sara noted, before leaning beside one of the barricades and emptying her mag into another duo of advancing troopers. She reloaded, then poked her head out again, only to gasp and duck back in cover as another Sniper round charred the dirt and grass right in front of her. Another sniper shot cracked the air, this time from another position... Tyden knew how to reposition. Smart of him.

"Another one down." Cortana called "There's 5 left, but they're moving... And countersniping."

"**FUCK!**" They heard a cry, turning back to see that Panda was on the floor, grabbing onto a wound. A plasma shot had grazed her shoulder, nearly severing a carotid artery. Priscilla scoffed, then looked to the Chief and Sara and motioned for them to move onto the second line and defend the generator. More traps were set up around and the soldier pointed to them. Chief nodded, then counted down on his fingers and, when the countdown reached zero, he popped up over his cover, hosing an entire area down and fully emptying one magazine.

Sara joined Zele and Panda, finding the former tending to the latter with an IFAK. Panda held onto her shoulder, gritting her teeth and pale, but alive. She flashed a grin at Sara, then said "That was close, wasn't it?" with a tired voice and Sara firmly gripped her unwounded shoulder, patting her there, before she popped up and started firing again. She hunched over with a loud groan and grabbed onto her gut as a plasma sniper round melted through the ceramics and steel of her vest and nearly punched into her gut. Quickly, she pulled out her IFAK and started patching the wound up, while holding her rifle with her left hand.

Another sniper shot. Priscilla looked to Tyden and Paulette working, focused on their targets. Tyden seemed calm, but Chief and the Sergeant saw his face. He was suppressing trembling to shoot straight. Paulette noticed the two soldiers staring and raised 4 fingers. 4 targets left. The Spartan gave a nod as he heard traps activating again, this time close enough that he also heard the bones **_crack_**. Two Fed Auxiliaries' legs were bleeding, broken. He finished them off with accurate shots from his rifle, but found himself in need to duck into cover again as plasma struck his shields and then, his armor. Human energy weapons more powerful than the Covies'. Damn. He was lucky his armor could take some of the heat...

Priscilla looked to Sara, to see her tossing aside the now-empty IFAK as the cocktail of drugs and the bandage barely held her gut together. She'd removed the armor and set it aside, as the rig attached to it still held her ammunition. Six plasma rounds washed over their heads and slammed into the barricades as the Auxiliary troops with rifles and carbines finally came into the line of fire.

Panda poked up, holding her LMG in one hand. She squeezed the trigger and hot lead spewed down range. Bastards who managed to see it coming took cover. Those who didn't died and those who were caught in traps when running died painfully. The sniper cracked again and Chief heard, through the storm of gunfire, Tyden recycling the bolt of the Timberwolf.

Three.

Chief looked over the cover. Five Auxiliary troops were approaching. He looked to Pris, simply nodded to the confused Sergeant and jumped over the cover. Cocking back his fist, he threw a haymaker right into the face of the first soldier approaching;one wearing a helmet. When the armored gauntlet of a fist made contact with the face-plate of the helmet, the helmet _shattered_ and the man's skull caved in with a thunderous _roar_. Chief drew his sidearm and killed the two on his left, while Priscilla appeared out of her cover too, killing the other two behind the Chief with extreme prejudice. Tyden fired again.

Two.

The Spartan looked to his teammates and showed them to move forward and push. Sara, Zele and even a refreshed Panda jumped over their cover, with the lattermost using her LMG without even looking down the sights. The Auxiliaries saw the wall of fire coming, so they took positions behind the first row of barricades. Plasma flew from cover and from snipers, before Tyden lined up and fired again...

One...

"GO!" Chief yelled, slinging his rifle on his back and drawing his knife. Priscilla tossed the G36 by the strap onto her shoulder and ran, jumping over cover and acquainting one of the soldiers with the two soles of her boots. Sara followed up, emptying her AK mag into one of the soldiers, sliding over the cover, grabbing one by the collar and throwing him into two of his comrades, forcing them to stumble back, before she grabbed a grenade off her belt and threw it into them. The grenade was an impact grenade. It turned the trio of survivors into chunks of meat. And the sniper roared one last time as the Auxiliaries, spooked by both the push and the loss of their support unit, fell into a disorganized rout.

Chief pushed down Priscilla's weapon as she was about to fire again, then said "Don't waste your ammo." and turned to Tyden and Paulette, both of whom were smiling proudly... The former more-so embarrassed and thankful. The fight was over and Chief gave a once-over of their field of defenses. Dozens of corpses... Dozens of them. Auxiliaries were probably the Federation's most expendable troops.

"It's over...?" Panda asked, panting. Chief nodded and the girl fell to her knees, a multitude of emotions on her face... Sans Priscilla, Sara, and Chief, they must've all just killed for the very first time. That wasn't gonna be pretty, but alas. The Spartan saw his two fellow soldiers fall flat on their asses, panting, thankful that it was over. He hummed, reminding himself they were all just human, after all. Tyden's shooting probably saved the day...

... Today had been awfully long.


	6. Forward

Chief watched the colony developing slowly from above. His objective today was the same objective he'd wanted to accomplish for the past few days. Visit the _Dawn, _retrieve any gear and assess the damage. Whatever he could take now, he would. What he couldn't, he would come back later and take with the others' help. Sara had volunteered to follow along, of course, so Priscilla would stay behind to ensure that everything went accordingly. The past days had been rather calm, after the assault.

Sara had, of course, expected them to dig their way up to the ship. Chief's desire to scale the mountainside up to his old ship was not something she thought she'd be humoring today. The girl had ditched the AK and the heavy armor in favor of a simple handgun. Too much weight for the climb and whatnot. The two were also climbing side by side, since Chief had slowed down to allow the girl to catch up. Probably figured that if she slipped, he could catch her.

"Hey, Chief?" She gritted her teeth, feeling a cold breeze coming from the west.

"Mhm?" The Spartan murmured, stopping just below a ledge, before turning to look down at the valley below. More clouds gathered from the west, of course. A storm was brewing.

"Don't you think it'd have been better to just _dig _our way up?" She asked. Chief hummed, then pulled himself up onto the ledge and helped her too. The ship was far closer than when they'd begun climbing earlier in the morning and the fact that there was a ledge here was good. Sara sat herself down far from the edge, breathing a sigh of relief and pulling her canteen off her belt. She took three big swigs of water, before looking at Chief as he halted. She raised a brow, then looked over to where he was looking and saw it. A cave.

"Well..." The girl murmured "That saves us the climb..."

Cortana had given a cursory scan of the cave to the Chief. Sara was right in the regard that it would shorten their path. He nodded to the girl, drew his Assault Rifle, then flicked on its flashlight. The woman beside him sighed, unsure of why the Chief had suddenly gone quiet. She elected to leave it be, drawing her own handgun and powering on its mini-light. The two marched inside, walking up a slight slope and scanning the walls with their weapons.

The place looked like something had carved it out, though. And now that two had had some time to think about it, the ledge didn't seem all that natural either. They scanned the walls, noticing the faint traces of electronics, before reaching further up and finding actual armor plating and ripped-off chunks of hallway from the UNSC frigate, dug into the mountain. 15 minutes since they made it to the ledge.

Finally, the two saw the inside of the ship's first hallway. Flashing warning lights, sparking wires and torn wall panels greeted them. What was once half a working ship was now nothing but actual rubble and hopefully useful scrap metal. Chief swept the entire hall with his light, stopping only when he caught a glimpse of the broken door and its sparking control panel. Sara had fallen into a combat stance, handgun at the ready and poised to shoot the moment she caught wind of something threatening them.

Chief led the way inside, into the metallic halls of the UNSC ship and deeper into the bowels. The doors still worked, meaning the reactor was, at least, untouched for now. Retracing a path to where he remembered the cryobay was located. Then, he and his compatriot moved past it, toward the right side. He stopped by the door, leaned in to listen, then nodded to Sara.

The door slid open with the two training their firearms on the center of the room, before moving forth and sweeping their gazes around the place. Moving past another door and deeper into the halls, the two came upon a room filled with glass-covered tubes. Chief hummed, approaching the pillar next to said tubes and almost instinctually going to slot Cortana's chip into it, before stopping himself. He hummed, then looked to Sara.

The girl checked the Cryotubes calmly, eyes scanning the insides of what would be the perfect spot to sleep in during an interstellar flight. She turned and nodded to him, before the two moved on forward, into a room containing a severely damaged holotable, hanging wires and some lockers, then even further onto what would have been the rather cramped bridge of the UNSC ship.

The Spartan approached one of the computers and tapped a few lines onto the touch-screen keyboard, accessing diagnostics. The hull had been almost irreparably damaged, they were missing armor plating and only two ARCHER missile pods were operational. The Rampart guns, however, seemed to be _mostly _intact on this section of the ship. If they could repurpose them, that'd be a boon in defense... He hummed, then switched over to the diagnostics feed for the Reactor with Cortana's help.

"Huh. Curious." The AI mused, "The reactor is in safe mode, running at 25% of its normal capacity, but there's no ruptures or damage with the coolant system... I didn't even touch its controls before we landed."

"Hmm..." Chief hummed, before pulling all relevant data onto a second chip and taking said chip out of the console, sliding it into his pocket. He looked to Sara and said, "The ship's taken severe damage, but her reactor is still operational, although it's running on Safe."

"Ooh. What kind of reactor is it?" The girl asked, a smile on her face.

"Deuterium-based Fusion."

And at that, Sara's smile grew as she proclaimed, "We could power a hundred colonies like ours with that! We gotta get some power lines up here, link them to the ship's reactor!"

"Mhm." John nodded, "Let's go. There's one last place I want to check. Then, we can head down... Dig our way out too."

"Yes. Gotcha." She nodded. The two proceeded down some stairs, into the lower area of the ship. More specifically, they entered the loading bay area of the vessel, where, still hanging in cranes, broken UNSC vehicles lay, as if waiting for someone to come salvage them. The Chief sighed to himself, disappointed as he scanned part of the area and found all of the vics missed bits and pieces after the crash. Some were outright twisted and broken. Thus, the Spartan and his awed compatriot walked past them, toward another bulkhead, passing by the massive hole in the hull of the loading bay, one which gave them a scenic view of the valley as clouds once again gathered overhead.

He approached the secondary room's bulkhead, before punching in a code on a keypad. The door hissed, steam escaping as it depressurized and the hydraulics pulled it open, revealing a partially damaged bay stocked full with... Ammunition and weapons. Sat in armored boxes painted in the olive drab and green of the UNSC's forces, UNSC standard armaments lay neatly lined up.

Sara's eyes, however, stuck to one weapon in particular. Same as what the Chief carried, though far less battered and somewhat more chunky by design, a standard-issue Assault Rifle sat by its siblings in the rack. Chief looked to the drooling Engineer, before humming and tilting his head. Sara looked to him, eyes wide with curiosity and the hope of a five-year-old in a candy store with her mother, before the Chief slowly nodded in approval. Sara beamed, slinging her handgun into its holster and jovially prancing forth toward the weapon rack. She yanked the bullpup MA5B out of the stack, smiling as she said, "Come to mama..." and flicking on its ammo counter. It read two zeros for now...

She knelt, pulled a mag and slid it into the weapon, before racking the bolt and feeding one round with a satisfying _click. _The ammo counter flashed, before it settled onto the set ammo count of the MA5B. 60 Rounds. Her happiness was immeasurable and her day was saved from the dreariness of remembering that dastardly climb as she shouldered the heavier, but more polished MA5B.

"Whaddaya think, Chief?" She raised a brow, smiling broadly. This had made the trip worth it enough for her.

Noticing a slight pause from the Chief as he processed what to say, Cortana chuckled, "Compliment the girl, John."

"It suits you." He offered calmly. She nodded, before slinging the weapon onto her back and grabbing as much ammo as she could off the shelves. Chief hummed, then looked around and murmured into his mic, "Why would we have MA5Bs loaded here?"

"If I'm rereading the file correctly and, mind you, I'm also gonna paraphrase a bit... The _Dawn _was given MA5Bs as a substitute in case the Marines felt nostalgic, honestly. Same with the M45 Shotguns." Cortana answered, "Guess command wanted us to have options."

"Mhm..." He nodded, then said, "Let's go. We can come back with the others to retrieve more of the weapons later." to Sara. The girl followed happily, with Cortana humming something to herself as she read up on new data.

"John..." She started, smiling as her holographic com window appeared on Chief's HUD.

"Hm?" He asked as they walked down the corridor.

"Yank me and slot me in... I need to check something from the _Dawn's _sensors." She noted, then added as she read the slight elevation in his pulse, "Don't you start worrying, Chief. I'll be just fine. I'll ping you via the ship's com suite when you should come get me."

"You sure?" He murmured, raising a brow.

"Positive. C'mon, give a girl some credit." She smirked confidently, staring him in his blue eyes. He hummed hesitantly, taking a moment to ponder the idea, then nodded, slowing down and letting Sara get a headstart before he pulled the chip out of his helmet and slotted it into a computer port. The once-dead display flared blue, then died again, almost seemingly untouched. A half-hour's trek and digging down to their own base's side corridor later, the Chief and Sara had made it down, their feet slamming against steel floor plates lined in a neat pattern.

The interior of the mountains had yielded a big enough supply of compacted steel and fossilized, compacted technological parts to allow for the construction and reinforcement of the walls themselves into proper steel ones, with power conduits running through them. Thermal energy was doing work, but the base's inner area, hidden within the mountain, was still fairly small. A compound of about four main rooms, one of which was the base's workshop. Overhead, the roof was made up of steel girders holding up neatly-cut and smoothed rock, with slightly more powerful lamps hanging off each girder.

The Spartan and his comrade took a right and the Chief stepped onto the grating below their feet, propping the door open to what amounted to the colony's small aid station. About a dozen beds lay, neatly lined against the walls, with IV drip stands beside them. Sat in the rearmost bed, Panda turned her gaze to meet Chief and Sara as they walked in. She smiled at them, then said "Hey, bossman, Sara."

"Hey, Panda." Sara waved, sitting herself down on another bed, "How're you doing?"

"Eh," She shrugged, "I'm gonna be fine. How'd the trip up to the ship go?"

"Reactor's running." Chief noted, "Though on Safe."

"It's a Deuterium reactor, though!" Sara beamed, face full of childlike joy, "Also... We found these." And she showed Panda the MA5B.

"Cool! That's a nice lookin' gun there, Sara. Almost looks like Chief's." Panda smirked, arms crossed 'round her stomach. She looked to the Spartan, then asked, "Everything okay up there?"

"She's not gonna be space-worthy unless we do major repairs." He said, locking his own MA5C onto his back. He nodded to the two of them, then quickly excused himself, stepping out of the aid station and back into the main corridors of the base. He should've figured Cortana would've asked to stay behind to verify the _Dawn's _sensors and other telemetry. Maybe they'd get some form of answer as to where they had wound up. Whatever the case, he should've thought to ask her for daily reports beforehand. She would've probably said something about it 'not taking that long', though...

And knowing her...

He took a left and entered the outpost's little manufacturing area. Sara had been busy, almost having lost sleep two days ago to finish the research into manufacturing. She had also explained to him how the research system of the M-Fit worked:The system contained and stored the basic information about sciences and technologies ranging from mankind's earliest ones, like the wheel, bows and arrows and metalworking to today's more sophisticate systems. Now, with the data Sara had in her own M-Fit, having survived for as long as she had, she was able to more quickly 'unlock' the tiers of tech. Of course, they needed at least minimal samples of raw materials like components and steel to figure out some of the data, but...

Well, Sara was an engineer. Chief had to remind himself yet again of the tenacity of engineers, which had gotten them several items of interest, like an electric smelter and smithy, several sets of tools in tool drawers lined neatly around the other workbenches and the workbenches themselves, ranging from an electric stone-cutting table, to an electric parts fabrication bench and a new, more technologically feasible(at least for their current level) research table, with a linked mini-computer that tied directly into the M-Fits.

He caught a glimpse of Zele at the electric smelter, working to reclaim alloys from the Federation's plasma weapons. The girl turned to him and a barely-visible smile formed. She nodded to the Chief respectfully, to which he nodded back. She turned back to work, tossing the cheaply made plasma weapons into the smelter and gathering the strange, white, fluorescent alloy into a heat-resistant container.

The machining table off to the side also had an ammunition maker, with an unfinished box of 7,62x51mm. Ironically the perfect caliber, considering what they were about to be using, but why make it now? He sighed, then stepped out of the place and out into the halls again. Farther along the corridor where the team's rooms resided. He turned toward the main exit, which was once the central room of the place, before going through and exiting it. Outside, he found Priscilla working on keeping the generator up and running.

The officer turned to the Chief as she heard his heavy footsteps, before standing up and putting one hand on her hip. She asked, "How'd it go?" before leaning against the machine she so faithfully cared for. He nodded approvingly, watching her sit there. She hummed, then spoke softly, "Glad to hear it, Chief. Reactor still running on your old gal? Could really help us with the power..."

"It is." He nodded, "It's Deuterium based."

"Huh. Damn." The girl murmured, "Gonna take us some time to get Deuterium, but..."

"We got enough resources to build power lines all the way up to the ship?" He asked, looking out into the horizon, right at the edge of the valley.

"Yeah. Steel's a non-issue, since we landed in a mountainous region, so..." She shrugged, "Think it's gonna let us steal power?"

"The _Dawn _is half-dug into the mountain... I doubt she can object much." He quipped, then looked up at the damaged frigate. He pointed at the weapons still on her frame, then said, "We could repurpose some of the guns if we had the tools. Disassemble and reassemble them down here, or outright stick them on the mountains for defense. 50mm cannons with automated targeting..."

She hummed, raising a brow at him, "Any chance you could get IFFs for us? So they don't splatter us across the floor too."

"We can make certain adjustments." John offered, crossing his arms, "It'll be a while before we get them, though."

"Yup... Main worry now will be getting power to us. Hey, Chief." She looked to him. The Spartan turned to her and she almost couldn't tell if he raised a brow at her or not, but she figured so. Continuing onto the trail of the convo, she asked, "Think we should break her apart? The _Dawn_, I mean... It'd give us a helluva lot of resources to work with, so I figured..."

"... It'll take a few days. And what will you do with the reactor?"

"Move it piece by piece?" She shrugged, "I dunno... Just a thought."

"We'll see." He nodded. Calmly, he added, "Paulette and Tyden are out hunting again?"

"Yeah. Didn't get the buffalos last time... Kitchen's still being worked on, but it's nice that the stove and electric butcher table are working." She chuckled, crossing her arms, "Man, Sara needs to learn to get some sleep every once again, what with the research she's doing..."

Well, to say John didn't know about that sentiment being directed at him some times in his service would be a lie. Without another word, he stepped inside, parting with only the words "We'll need to build a wall to surround our little compound." before he disappeared inside. The woman chuckled, then turned back to working on the machine, trying to ensure a better power output. Chief acted like no soldier Pris had ever met. And, hell, she'd met Sara, so that told her enough...


End file.
